This paper explores the relationship between book and library history and the history of medicine in the eighteenth century via a study of provincial medicine in Leeds. The paper capitalises on recent work on provincial medicine by Michael Brown in Medical Culture and Identity in Provincial England c. 1760-1850 (2011), and discusses the emergence in the mid-eighteenth century of a new breed of provincial medical practitioner who combined specialised knowledge, education and professionalism in their provincial practice. Susan Lawrence has argued for the increasing propensity for ‘hospital knowledge’ in the training of London-based medical practitioners in the mid-eighteenth century and in this paper I suggest that the effects of this were felt further afield. William Hey, the Leeds-based man-midwife and surgeon is just one example of this new breed of professional and knowledgeable provincial practitioner who combined the traditional seven-year apprenticeship with practical experience of metropolitan medicine. I will also suggest that the emergence of various medical institutions in Leeds in the mid-eighteenth century such as the Leeds Medical Library (1768) can be associated with this development. An analysis of the collections of the Medical Library will suggest its primary purpose was to provide the Leeds medics with the latest medical knowledge and to keep them up-to-date with developments in the profession. Building on the work of Bynum, Lock and Porter (eds) Medical Journals and Medical Knowledge (1992) I will suggest that the founding of this library in Leeds in the mid-eighteenth century combined with the knowledge that medicine was one of the earliest specialist periodical markets in Britain helps to highlight the growing importance and organisation of provincial medicine at this time. I will also propose that the collections of the library were a central means by which provincial practitioners maintained their position of expertise. I conclude the paper by arguing that the collections of the library combined with an analysis of medicine in Leeds show that there was an active, learned medical community in provincial England who strove to keep not only up-to-date with professional developments but to contribute to the constantly growing body of medical knowledge in the eighteenth century.